BOOK OF JONAH

1926 · Waltham St. Lawrence

by (BINDINGS - FRANKLIN MOWERY). (GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS). JONES, DAVID, Illustrator. BIBLE IN ENGLISH

Waltham St. Lawrence: Golden Cockerel Press, 1926. No. 48 OF CLXXV COPIES. 258 x 195 mm. (10 1/4 x 7 3/4"). 15, [3] pp.
Understated black crushed morocco by J. Franklin Mowery (stamp-signed "JFM 94" on rear turn-in), wraparound design of blind-stamped L-shaped panels of intersecting lines, smooth spine with vertical gilt lettering, leather hinges, edges untrimmed. Original illustrated upper cover of dust jacket (repaired at one corner) bound in at rear. In a matching morocco-lipped slipcase. Title page with large woodcut of the risen Christ, four large vignettes in the text, four pictorial half borders, and four full-page woodcuts, all by David (truncated) Jones, printer's device in colophon. Front pastedown with bookplate of Jan van der Marck. Chanticleer 40. A pristine copy.

This is a wonderfully--if understatedly--bound copy of one of the most strictly limited Golden Cockerel Press productions. The binding is the work of J. Franklin Mowery, retired Head of Conservation at the Folger Shakespeare Library and past president of the Guild of Book Workers. Mowery studied bookbinding under Professor Kurt Londenberg at the Staatliche Hochschule für bildende Künste (Academy of Art) in Hamburg, and trained as a paper conservator under Otto Wächter in Vienna, before returning to the U.S. to work at the Huntington Library. According to his article "A Binder's Training" (Guild of Book Workers' Journal XX, 1981-82), the blind-stamping technique seen here was "particularly favored by Professor Londenberg" and often employed by Mowery for the range of design possibilities it offers. The method uses dies to stamp the patterns: "a photographic process can transfer any black and white image onto zinc plates that are deeply etched and mounted onto type-high metal blocks for heated impressions or onto wood for cold embossing." Mowery stated that lines of the design here represent the driving rain of the storm that struck Jonah's ship. Founded in 1920 with the intention to print fine editions of important well-known books as well as new literary works of merit from young authors, the Golden Cockerel Press was purchased in 1924 by the illustrator and wood-engraver Robert Gibbings. "Under his direction," says Cave, the Press was "transformed into the principal vehicle for the renaissance of wood-engraved book illustration that took place in the years between the wars." In addition to doing wood engravings himself, Gibbings employed a stable of eminent artists including, among others, Eric Gill, Blair Hughes-Stanton, John Nash, John Farleigh, Eric Ravilious, and David Jones. The memorable woodcuts are the work of Jones (1895-1974), who had a brief but impressive career as an illustrator before eye strain forced him to abandon engraving in 1930. In his published study of Jones' work, Douglas Cleverdon says that in the short time Jones was engraving "he produced a remarkable amount of work, of great variety; some witty, some mystical; some boldly cut, some delicately shaded; some simple to print, some virtually impossible. Although he never attained . . . the greatest technical mastery in the conventional sense, his prints are nearly always distinguished by their excellence of design, personal commitment, and absolute individuality." Our binding was commissioned by collector and self-described "radical" museum administrator Jan van der Marck (1929-2010), who championed artists that pushed boundaries--often to the consternation of the museum boards who employed him.. (Inventory #: ST20084)

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